National guidelines for responsible internationalisation to be produced

International collaboration and exchanges are important for high quality in education, research and innovation, and contribute to increasing Sweden’s competitiveness. Over the last few years, insecurity has increased around the world, with resulting greater geopolitical challenges. This places new demands on higher education institutions (HEIs) and government agencies in terms of protecting national interests, knowledge and technology in conjunction with international collaborations and contacts. Several European countries have already introduced national guidelines for responsible internationalisation, among them Norway, Netherlands and Germany.

The Swedish Council for Higher Education, the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova have been mandated to promote the work on responsible internationalisation within higher education, research and innovation at Swedish higher education institutions, research funding bodies and other public agencies. The mandate includes developing national guidelines and proposing how further forms of support for knowledge and experience exchange between higher education institutions, research funding bodies and other public agencies and organisations can be developed and designed.

“International collaboration is very important for a small country such as Sweden to improve the quality of research and education. International collaborations can also entail challenges, and for this reason it is important that higher education institutions carry out structured risk analyses before new collaboration projects are begun. Research funding bodies also need to review how we work with these risks in the projects we fund,” says Katarina Bjelke, Director General of the Swedish Research Council.

The three public agencies shall carry out the mandate in close collaboration with higher education institutions, research funding bodies and other actors and public agencies involved who can contribute to a well-functioning and secure research and innovation system. The work shall be coordinated with the public agency interaction that occurs within PLINT – platform for internationalisation.

The final report on the mandate shall be published on 15 December 2024.

Read the pressrelease on the Government's website (in Swedish) External link.